New Year's "Opportunities"

For many reasons, I'm not big on making New Year's Resolutions. One, it's not a time of year that *feels* particularly new and fresh, or that naturally gives rise to making changes... for *me*, I mean. I tend to feel far more energized in spring and autumn, personally.

However, because of what happened to me last night, I found it very hard to get to sleep, and so spent a few hours in deep self-reflection, determined to extract the hard lessons the Universe has been trying to teach me for some time now:

1. SLOW. DOWN.
   
2. Breathe deeply.
   
3. Think before I speak and act.
   
4. Generally reduce the space I take up in the world by:
   • eating less
     
   • wanting less
     
   • buying less
     
   • yearning less
     
   • complaining less
     
   • gossiping less
     
   • criticizing less
     
   • wasting less
     
   • risking less

The last one, risking less, is a very interesting concept for me to meditate on. Many people I know could benefit a great deal from risking more. As for me, I really don't think I need to worry. I risk plenty. I risk way too much, as a matter of fact.

Case in point: I went out this morning to find my car's rear vent window had been smashed in at some point last night. I had parked right in front of my house; however, I pay $75 a month for a garage space around the block. The garage's location requires me to walk a bit farther, but has the distinct advantage of protecting my car from theft or damage.

I need to use that garage consistently, and stop whining about how it's narrow and hard to park in, how it's tandem with two other cars and sometimes I have to move them before I can get out, how there's standing water on the ground in there right now and it smells bad. My landlord's a good guy. I just have to give him a call and he'll deal with the puddle, probably within 24 hours.

So these are what I consider my greatest opportunities for 2006, actions that will hopefully help "quiet down" the increasingly loud and insistent wake-up calls I've been getting from the Universe.